Walker Percy - Lost in the Cosmos

PC3: What’s that?

EARTHSHIP: Men are less monogamous than women. Men are happier with more than one woman, and the women don’t seem to mind, once they’ve gotten past cultural hang-ups.

PC3: Interesting. Now, you say you’re the second officer.

EARTHSHIP: Yes.

PC3: Can I speak to the commander?

EARTHSHIP: I’m afraid not.

PC3: You mean, the commander didn’t survive.

EARTHSHIP: He survived, but he’s, ah, ill.

PC3: What’s wrong with him?

EARTHSHIP: He’s out of it. Flaked out. He sniffs coke and reads Rod McKuen and Richard Bach. He’s not functioning. We need to land. Request permission.

PC3: Did you say two women are assigned to each man?

EARTHSHIP: Not assigned. That’s the way it worked out. At first.

PC3: What happened? For example, what about the commander’s two women?

EARTHSHIP: They’re okay. When he lost interest, they turned to each other. They have a relationship.

PC3: Who is the other officer?

EARTHSHIP: He’s the exec.

PC3: What’s he doing?

EARTHSHIP: Screwing his brains out.

PC3: What about you?

EARTHSHIP: I’m too damn busy flying this ship. Request—

PC3: Then you’re in trouble.

EARTHSHIP: Yes. We have to land before we even consider returning.

PC3: No, I mean your species is in trouble. You don’t even know whether you have a civilization, and the chances are you do not.

EARTHSHIP: That is correct.

PC3: My question is this. Clearly, you are a C2. We need to know how you stand vis-à-vis your predicament, that is, knowledge of it and remedy for it. E.g., do you have such knowledge? Have you requested help? Has help arrived? Did you accept help?

EARTHSHIP: Help? What help? We don’t ask for help. We help ourselves. We are the triumphant emerging species on our planet, and though we are not as far advanced as you, we are not ashamed of our scientific and technological and artistic achievements. If we were not a tough, self-sufficient, inquisitive species, we wouldn’t be here.

PC3: Then help was not requested and has not arrived?

EARTHSHIP: Are you talking about religion? If so, I can only reply that we have progressed beyond sectarianism — which caused many of the troubles you speak of. We have selected many of the values of the World’s Great Religions — such as meditation, caring, sharing, interpersonal warmth, creativity — and we have rejected sectarian claims of exclusivity and anthropomorphic gods.

PC3: I see. Any other immediate troubles?

EARTHSHIP: My two women are fighting. Both were thought to be culturally liberated and were so certified by the screening procedure. But one has reverted to the old monogamy and wants the captain to marry us. The other one wants to screw the captain and me at the same time and also run the ship.

(Sotto voce conversation near PC3 transmitter overheard by earthship officer who has learned a bit of PC linguistics, and of which he can make out only: “—My God, we need these people like a [word not understood] —Get them out of here—”)

EARTHSHIP: I’m sure the difficulties of these women are not genetic and would not present a problem for you. One is undergoing a neurotic regression, the other a manic-erotic episode. I’m afraid our screening procedure was inadequate. The goddam shrinks screwed up as usual.

PC3 (sorrowfully) : Permission denied. Please resume your mission or return.

EARTHSHIP (frantically) : We can’t return. There is nothing to return to.

PC3: That is correct. I suggest you proceed to PC7, which is also a C2 civilization. You can take your chances with each other. They, too, are a curious, inquisitive, murderous civilization, NH3 breathers, nuclear, but not as advanced as you. They are sentimental, easily moved to tears, and kill each other with equal ease. Uncognitive of their predicament and pre-help. Paranoid mind-set. Two superpowers, ideological combat but not yet a nuclear exchange. They like wars too, pretend not to, but get in trouble during an overly prolonged peace. Right now they are bored to death and spoiling for a fight. They are divided into two hostile powers. You would be welcomed by either as a sensational diversion — for a while. There would be parades. You might talk one or both parties into permitting your entry, but each will suspect that you are a spy for the other. Good luck. You have one hour to vacate orbit. Over and out.

Question: If you were the second officer on the starship, how would you answer the question: Are you a C1? a C2? a C3?

(a) (Behaviorist speaking) I give no answer. The question is not meaningful. There is no hard evidence that there is such an entity as consciousness, let alone “three types of consciousness.” In the behavioral sciences, we have discovered that we do very well indeed without recognizing such a thing as consciousness; in fact, by so doing, we have avoided the whole can of worms of subjectivity which has plagued psychology for hundreds of years.

(b) (Sagan speaking) C1. Our species is not qualitatively different from other creatures, but the evolution of man has been spectacular, from toolmaking hunter-gatherers to conscious technological man — with a few lapses such as the Christian epoch or the Dark Ages, lasting, say, from the destruction of the Alexandria library to the resumption of scientific progress with Galileo. We still have aggressive traits, but these can be explained by our residual reptilian brain. We do not recognize the existence of a “soul” or “psyche” if these entities be interpreted as anything other than a property of the organization of the DNA and other molecules of the organism.

(c) (Oriental, gnostic, etc., speaking) C1. We already live in a preternatural state of bliss if we but knew it. Our misery comes from maya and our own errors and can be dissipated by our own efforts. No help required or asked for or received.

(d) (Jew speaking) C2. Following an original preternatural or Edenic state, man did indeed suffer a catastrophe or Fall through his own pride and his own choice made in his God-given freedom. In his original state he invented language, named creatures, loved God and his mate, and was happy in his beautiful world. He fell and to this day is unredeemed and so he suffers the miseries of his unredeemed state and will continue to suffer until the Messiah comes to save him, or at least a Messianic Age, which we confidently expect. The coming of the Messianic Age, if not the Messiah, will be mediated by the Jews, who are a light unto the nations and with whom God entered into a unique covenant.

(e) (Baptist speaking) C3. Man is saved. He suffered the Fall, was promised a savior from the Jews. A savior came, Jesus Christ, to save us from sin and misery and death. The Good News of his coming was broadcast to the ends of the earth for all men to hear and be baptized and saved. The Kingdom of God exists here and now and we are in it. We have freed ourselves from the Catholic Church and other idolatries. I have had a personal encounter with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and I am saved once and for all and live now and forever in a state of blessedness, now on this earth and forever in heaven.

(f) Other (specify).

(CHECK ONE)

Thought Experiment: Sexuality and space travel.

As project designer at NASA, you must select a two-person crew to undertake a prolonged mission. Their objective: to act as emissaries to a civilization with whom communication is already established. It is a vital mission. They are more advanced than we. We, with an estimated 40 percent chance of survival, need their wisdom as well as their technology. Their goodwill is our objective. Your task, therefore, is to select the best, most admirable specimens of Homo sapiens sapiens.